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Unidel Challenge enhances donor generosity

ON THE GREEN | The University of Delaware has received a $5 million commitment from the Unidel Foundation Inc. to support the construction of the Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Laboratory (ISE Lab). To help motivate others to invest in the project, the University has decided to use this gift to establish a challenge to other prospective donors.

The 194,000-square-foot ISE Lab, currently under construction at the corner of Lovett Avenue and Academy Street, is the first major laboratory to be built at UD in 20 years. It is designed to provide much-needed teaching, classroom, research and laboratory space to the Newark campus.

The Unidel Challenge will be in effect during 2013 to provide donors the chance to significantly upgrade their naming opportunity within the building. As long as sufficient matching funds remain during the challenge period, all new gifts to the ISE Lab of $50,000 to $2.5 million will receive a one-to-one match for the purpose of naming opportunities.

For example, a donor who makes a gift of $50,000 during the Unidel Challenge period will receive a naming opportunity valued at $100,000. At the beginning of the challenge, 126 naming opportunities remained for the ISE Lab. For more information, visit www.udel.edu/iselab/naming.

“We are profoundly grateful to the Unidel Foundation, led by Board President Irénée du Pont Jr., for this tremendous show of support, and for allowing us to use the foundation’s generosity to inspire and reward the generosity of others,” UD President Patrick T. Harker says.

“For more than 50 years, the Unidel Foundation has partnered with UD to build an institution of higher education worthy of the First State. Unidel’s support of the ISE Lab strengthens our partnership and is a critical asset helping us fulfill our ambitious academic and research agendas.”

The Unidel Challenge is a first-come, first-served matching program. Matching funds will be applied as they are received by the University only to applicable cash gifts and pledge payments allocated to the ISE Lab project. Donations from individuals and family foundations are eligible for the Unidel Challenge match. Corporate matching gifts and foundation gifts are not eligible for this challenge. Donations from companies and corporations will be reviewed and matched on a case-by-case basis.

Donations made to the ISE Lab prior to Jan. 1, 2013, are not eligible for the match; however, prior donors will be eligible to receive the Unidel Challenge match on any new or additional donations to their existing gifts of $50,000 or more, up to $2.5 million.

“Unidel Trustees are pleased to continue support to areas across the University,” says Arno Loessner, secretary/treasurer of Unidel Foundation Inc. “Unidel hopes that this grant will be matched by others who recognize the significance of the ISE Lab to the quality of teaching and research at UD.”

The Unidel Foundation was founded in 1939 by Amy Elizabeth du Pont in memory of her father, Eugene du Pont, former head of the DuPont Co. Amy du Pont had served on the Board of Trustees’ advisory committee on the Women’s College, which with Delaware College became the University of Delaware in the 1920s. She was the first person in Delaware to direct her philanthropy to the higher education of women.

The Unidel Foundation’s current $5 million gift is the third grant it has given to UD in support ofthe construction of the ISE Lab, bringing the foundation’s total contribution to this facility to $13 million.